Self-amplified spontaneous emission for a single pass free-electron laser

• Main Authors: L. Giannessi, D. Alesini, P. Antici, A. Bacci, M. Bellaveglia, R. Boni, M. Boscolo, F. Briquez, M. Castellano, L. Catani, E. Chiadroni, A. Cianchi, F. Ciocci, A. Clozza, M. E. Couprie, L. Cultrera, G. Dattoli, M. Del Franco, A. Dipace, G. Di Pirro, A. Doria, A. Drago, W. M. Fawley, M. Ferrario, L. Ficcadenti, D. Filippetto, F. Frassetto, H. P. Freund, V. Fusco, G. Gallerano, A. Gallo, G. Gatti, A. Ghigo, E. Giovenale, A. Marinelli, M. Labat, B. Marchetti, G. Marcus, C. Marrelli, M. Mattioli, M. Migliorati, M. Moreno, A. Mostacci, G. Orlandi, E. Pace, L. Palumbo, A. Petralia, M. Petrarca, V. Petrillo, L. Poletto, M. Quattromini, J. V. Rau, S. Reiche, C. Ronsivalle, J. Rosenzweig, A. R. Rossi, V. Rossi Albertini, E. Sabia, L. Serafini, M. Serluca, I. Spassovsky, B. Spataro, V. Surrenti, C. Vaccarezza, M. Vescovi, C. Vicario
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Physical Society 2011-06-01
• Series: Physical Review Special Topics. Accelerators and Beams
• Online Access: http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.14.060712

SPARC (acronym of “Sorgente Pulsata ed Amplificata di Radiazione Coerente”, i.e. Pulsed and Amplified Source of Coherent Radiation) is a single pass free-electron laser designed to obtain high gain amplification at a radiation wavelength of 500 nm. Self-amplified spontaneous emission has been observed driving the amplifier with the high-brightness beam of the SPARC linac. We report measurements of energy, spectra, and exponential gain. Experimental results are compared with simulations from several numerical codes.